Our Team: Senior Consultants

Bentonne Sarah Snay

Bentonne Sarah Snay is an experienced executive and fundraiser with more than 25 years in the nonprofit sector. She is experienced in and especially enjoys assisting in new program design. She excels in determining implementation and evaluation strategies. And, she is adept at budget development. All of these are part of the grant proposal development process.

With experience in all areas of fundraising, her forte is prospect research for and the development of award-winning grant proposals as part of a nonprofit organization’s broad-based fundraising plan.

Bentonne has been the executive director/CEO of three nonprofit organizations: Communities in Schools of Miami and the Burger King/McLamore Foundation – serving as the founding executive director for both – and the Humane Society of Greater Miami.

A grant professional since 1991, Bentonne is President and CEO of The Snay Group, Inc., besides working with CoreStrategies for Nonprofits, Inc. She has worked with a diverse group of nonprofit organizations with annual organization budgets ranging from $150,000 to more than $50 million. To date, she has prepared hundreds of grant proposals to private and public funding sources that have resulted in nearly $39 million in total grant awards to date. Bentonne also provides grants and private fundraising coaching to several community-based organizations.

In 2011, Bentonne became one of fewer than 400 individuals who meet the rigorous requirements of a Grant Professional Certified (GPC).

She is past president of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Miami Chapter Board of Directors and current AFP member plus a member of the Grant Professionals Association (GPA) South Florida Chapter.

Donna Huntsman

Donna Huntsman comes to CoreStrategies for Nonprofits, Inc. after returning to Florida from Salvador, Brazil, where she lived for six years. Donna has broad experience with nonprofits, serving on multiple nonprofit boards and working in a variety of professional positions within the field.

Of particular interest to her is international schools, where she has experience as a student, parent, and board director. As a young girl, she attended the Academia de Cotopaxi in Quito, Ecuador and Campo Alegre in Caracas, Venezuela. And, while in Brazil, she served on the school board of the Pan American School of Bahia, where her children were enrolled. She was brought onto the board to provide her expertise with board governance and strategic growth.

As Executive Director of Washtenaw CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) in Michigan, she ensured on-going local program excellence and program evaluation. She doubled the number of foster children receiving a CASA advocate. She expanded revenue by 29% her first year, and an additional 20% the subsequent year. Prior to joining CASA, Donna worked for Nonprofit Enterprise at Work (NEW), a nonprofit management support organization. She specialized in board governance, facilitating workshops, consulting with organizations, and helping place prospective candidates on appropriate boards through BoardConnect.

Donna has the unique experience of having worked with local government through the Office of Community and Public Relations for the City of Hollywood, Florida, where she was awarded the Diamond Service Award for her outstanding contributions to the City. She also has experience partnering with local agencies as was evident by the collaboration between the Washtenaw County Juvenile Court and Friends of CASA.

She has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Florida in Gainesville, and a Master’s in Public Administration from Florida Atlantic University. She was afforded the opportunity to study at the Universiteit Utrecht in the Netherlands. On her free time, you can find her on a flight, traveling the world and exploring new places. She has visited close to forty different countries – always with a passion for cultural exploration. She is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish.

Gail S. Meltzer, CFRE

In the 1980’s, in the midst of an intense karate session in what brain researchers would call a flow moment, Gail had an idea. Then assistant development director for the Wolfson Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, Gail envisioned the hospital reaping the benefits of national exposure.

She convinced the board and staff to participate in the inaugural Children’s Miracle Network Telethon (CMNT), secured a local station to broadcast the event, garnered sponsors to cover the costs, and enlisted volunteers. The annual CMNT became one of the largest telethons in the world and elevated the profile and status of childrens’ hospitals.

A Children’s Hospital executive says the amiable Gail is a tenacious implementer. During her 30+ year career as a senior development officer and consultant in the nonprofit arena, nonprofits have benefited from the comprehensive fund raising programs and major gifts campaigns she has created. Gail has helped senior care facilities, leadership training programs, private schools, police foundations, animal shelters, youth group homes, medical centers, community mental health centers, homeless shelters and museums among many other organizations.

Gail is the founding president of the Jacksonville Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and for three decades has mentored many fund development professionals, board members, nonprofit staff and volunteers. As president of the consulting firm Fund Raising Advantage, Inc., a founding principal and now a senior consultant with CoreStrategies for Nonprofits, Inc., she loves working with boards and staff to help them embrace fund raising and create dynamic and effective donor relations programs for their organizations.

Gail has also experienced “life on the other side” by serving on numerous nonprofit boards during her career. She has had the distinction of being designated a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) since 1990, which requires ongoing rigorous documentation of fund raising success as well as service to the profession. Gail has a B.A. from Rutgers University. In the fall of 2009, Gail and Terrie completed an immersion class called the Community Driven Institute, conceived and taught by acclaimed author, teacher and consultant Hildy Gottlieb. Based on her landmark book The Pollyanna Principles, the course provides consultants with a new and inspiring way of looking at the work we do. We also completed a graduate level follow-up course, “Catalyzing the Potential of Others,” in 2013.

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“Gail finds solutions and makes things happen. She is a strategic thinker and, maybe even more importantly, a good-hearted person.”

Gay Rogers

Gay Rogers has been transforming nonprofit and healthcare organizations for over 25 years. Gay has the expertise to identify gaps between the current state and the desired future state by using a whole system approach. She specializes in Organizational Analysis, Culture Shifting, Strategy Development and Implementation, Change Enactment and Management, Organizational Design and Talent Development. Gay has been a CEO/Executive Director for Wexner Heritage Village, Hospice of Miami Valley, the Wildlife Center, Aseracare and others. She has served on community, state and national nonprofit Boards including the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. She has been both an internal and external consultant known as a turnaround specialist. She assisted several organizations in moving from negative bottom lines to exceeding budgeted goals, while developing management teams into high performing workgroups. She is a public speaker and has been a facilitator for Jack Canfield’s program “Peak Performance and Self Esteem.” She has B.S. and M.S. degrees from Palm Beach Atlantic University in Human Resource Management, Leadership and Organizational Development. She also graduated from all coursework from George Washington University in Human and Organizational Learning, and hopes to complete her dissertation one day.

Glenn Kaufhold

Glenn Kaufholdhas been a successful nonprofit leader for nearly 30 years, bringing to his work a unique blend of experiences in development, communications, marketing, administration, and organizational governance. He provides strategic advising to a host of organizations, particularly those in transition or start-ups, through CoreStrategies for Nonprofits and his own business, GKollaborative.

Before joining the consulting world in 2010, Glenn was Executive and CEO of the Miami Dade College Foundation, and Assistant Vice President for Corporate and Foundation Relations at Florida International University.

He has served in leadership roles at the Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine, Fenway Health, and The Medical Foundation. While running GKollaborative, Glenn also served as Senior Associate Dean and COO for one of his clients, the City University of New York School of Law.

Glenn has served on start-up teams for many new initiatives. These include Special Athletes/Special Smiles, created in partnership with Boston University and Special Olympics International; the Miami Culinary Institute, the Sorensen Center for International Peace and Justice (CUNY School of Law), and the Court Square Law Project, a partnership between the CUNY School of Law and the New York City Bar Association. Glenn holds a BA in English from Montclair State University.

Jennifer Gibbs

Jennifer Gibbs is a creative thinker and self-starter offering more than 20 years of experience as a professional fundraiser and public relations strategist. She has a proven track record in all areas of fundraising including capital campaigns, major donor and corporate solicitations, grant writing, annual fund drives and special events. She is an award-winning director of advertising and public relations campaigns.

Jennifer’s family, civic and professional roots run deep in the South Florida community. Her grandfather, Alex Gordon, was a former Miami-Dade County Commissioner. She has also worked as a fundraiser and strategist for some of South Florida’s most recognizable nonprofit institutions including the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Southern Florida and was a featured on-air personality and television host leading fundraising drives at WPBT Channel 2, Miami’s flagship public television station. She most recently led the capital campaign efforts as the Senior Vice President of Development for the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science.

Jennifer is a graduate of Wheaton College in Norton, MA, and resides in Miami Beach.

Les Weil

Les Weil is a coach, philanthropist, active community volunteer and former business owner/entrepreneur. Since 1994, he has collaborated with more than 100 nonprofit organizations in the greater Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida areas. Specifically assisting them with friend-raising/fundraising training, board solicitation training, marketing and the business operations of nonprofits, he encourages board members, volunteers and senior staff to work together in partnership.

He has worked with nonprofits in all sectors, including social service, health, education, arts and the environment. He has co-chaired numerous Capital Campaigns including the $6 million campaign for Journey House Family Center, a central-city social service agency located in Milwaukee. He has also worked on the 2002 Donor’s Forum of Wisconsin Statewide Conference on Philanthropy, the Milwaukee Center for Independence, which raised $12 million, and currently is working on the capital campaign for AVT Housing and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Fellowship Campaign. He has been a regular guest lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Helen Bader Institute for Nonprofit Management.

Known for connecting individuals, corporations and foundations for the betterment of the community, Les hosts learning sessions to provide lesser-known nonprofit organizations with the opportunity to present their missions to a targeted group of philanthropists.

Among the awards recognizing his service: the 2016 Honorary Alumni Award, Todd Wehr Volunteer Award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the W.I.S.H. Award from the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Friend of The Hispanic Community Award from the United Community Center, the St. Francis Children’s Center Community Service Award, and the Human Relations Award from the National Conference on Community and Justice.

Vicki Silver

Vicki Silver has 27 years of experience as a community planner with local or state government agencies, half of which was spent working closely with the nonprofit sector in South Florida. This background has given her special skills applicable to grant seeking, from program development and strategic planning to technical writing, project implementation, and grants management. She also has specializations in open space/greenways/landscaping, economic development, nature-based and heritage tourism including museums, and historic preservation/ folk arts.

Previous planning activities have included preparing a statewide guide to urban coastal parks and historic sites in Florida, obtaining a $42 million grant to buy an environmentally sensitive Broward beach park, and organizing several well-attended conferences to build awareness of environmental issues.

For 13 years, as a county senior planner, Vicki applied these areas of expertise to economic development in the Glades communities of Palm Beach County, procuring $10 million in funding for nonprofits and government agencies. Her efforts resulted in an award in 2000 by the National Association of Counties for the Best Community and Economic Development project, for the Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail: An Innovative Revitalization Approach.

As a freelance grant writer since 2002, Vicki has secured public and private funding for small and large clients for programming and capital improvements and purposes ranging from after-school enrichment and business expansion to museum development, food banks, and special needs facilities and services including housing, job training, arts and cultural programs, business equipment, and vans. She has served on grant review panels for state and local agencies and has considerable experience mentoring or empowering agency staff in the intricacies of grant preparation and working in teams with other consultants.

She has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Montclair State College in New Jersey, a master’s in public administration with an environmental/growth management specialization from Florida Atlantic University, and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners.

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